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Comment by HL33tibCe7 | Hacker News Reader

If you think cryptocurrencies are in any way comparable to the recent progress in artificial intelligence, I’m sorry but you’re a Luddite.

If you’d have presented anybody reading this with ChatGPT two years ago, they simply would not have believed it was possible.

This kind of step change in AI ability is interesting enough in itself without having some kind of insidious and completely unsubstantiated conspiracy theory behind it.

> This is not a coincidence.

I despise this kind of writing — writing with 100% confidence and then providing zero evidence. It reminds me very much of my reading of writing from “the election was rigged!!!” conspiracy morons. 10 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

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> If you’d have presented anybody reading this with ChatGPT two years ago, they simply would not have believed it was possible.

2 years ago, Google Lambda was available internally for dogfooding. The hype was high for a couple months, and then it dropped off after the entertainment and novelty value wanned. It even led to a series of articles about a person claiming it to be sentient.

So yes, 2 years ago, plenty of people would have believed it was possible.

Never heard of Google Lambda nor any of the people i know of. In contrast even my Grandma asks me about ChatGPT

Your appeal to popularity misses the entire point of the article. Maybe your Grandma knows about ChatGPT because PR firms are generating discussion.

How i wish such PR firms would truly exist. I fully get the point of the article and still disagree. You know what could be also true? That some people don't get the appeal of popularity which is fine but unfortunately the hard currency in product success

Ok fine, but they could've just said 4 years ago instead and their fundamental point would've remained the same. The rate of progress is staggering.

> If you’d have presented anybody reading this with ChatGPT two years ago, they simply would not have believed it was possible.

I'm having a hard time believing it now, it's just an amazing amount of progress in a short amount of time.

> I despise this kind of writing

Me too. It's suggesting that there's some kind of cabal that somehow decided it was time to crash crypto and get everyone to go after AI. Are there bandwagons? Definitely and they eventually go too far as with crypto - and quite possibly AI will experience something similar if it doesn't deliver on it's promises. But it's not like there's a bunch of guys in a smoke filled room somewhere who are driving this. Crypto was largely driven by cheap money (0% interest rates for several years) and artificially low electricity prices. Investment in AI now with much higher interest rates means that some people think they're going to get a better return on their money. It seems less bubbly in this kind of monetary environment.

> I despise this kind of writing — writing with 100% confidence and then providing zero evidence.

This bit struck me as well. Ironically, it's the same sort of bullshit that folks criticize AI for.

That actually wasn't what he said. He said the hype around cryptocurrencies was comparable to the hype around AI. That's a very different statement than you're putting into his mouth. If you've ever read any of his books (they tend to be very good), you know that he's not a Luddite and has a lot to say about future technologies including AI.

Cryprocurrencies are juxtaposed in the article to ChatGPT-like AI in two ways.

* 3 years ago, BTS / ETH / a whole slew of other coins were all the rage, the centerpiece of popular speculation. Now AI takes their place, even though without the get-rich-quick overtones.

* Many cryprocurrencies and AI both massively benefit from the use of GPUs, so once the crypro bubble burst and a lot of GPU compute power was freed, it can now conveniently be used for AI.

Otherwise, they are not comparable indeed.

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